Graced with success, the major Irish whiskey players are handling matters in the exact opposite fashion of the Japanese whisky titans. Irish Distillers and Teeling were prepared for a boost in their industry's popularity, and have lots of well-aged casks (20 to 40 years old) to dish out to their wealthy fanbase. Even Bushmills has their ultra-premium Causeway Collection. Meanwhile, Suntory and Nikka have NASes. The best world is one in which both countries issue gorgeous old whiskies and I can afford them all. This is not that world.
The TWE folks selected this single cask, one which had experienced the sort of maturation antics that could squeeze the harrumphs out of us serious cats. Bourbon cask and sherry cask Irish Pot Still getting re-racked in a marsala cask?! I'm getting the vapors. I've never found marsala + whiskey to be an enjoyable combo...
But, there are three buts. BUT Irish Distillers made port-pipe Redbreast 27 sing. BUT I enjoyed Red Spot 15yo, which had some marsala cask action in the mix. And the final "but" is the cask; an actual butt as opposed to a hogshead, with the greater size potentially allowing for more graceful interactions.
But enough words.
Spot Color: Green
Style: Single Pot Still
Country: Ireland
Distillery: Midleton
Age: at least 26 years (18 Oct 1991 - 2018)
Cask: 50776
Alcohol by Volume: 55.7%
Color added? Probably not?
(from a bottle split)
NOTES
It noses like a super-fruity old Speyside (think Glenburgie or Longmorn). Yuzu, yellow plums and yellow nectarines. Maybe a couple of roses. It's all very buoyant and pretty. Then mild unsmoked cigars ease in, followed by cloves, and it begins to remind me of a much older cognac. It shifts gears again at the hour mark, as an intense toffee pudding (The Sponge) appears in the glass. It's all very overwhelming and I think I feel a song coming on......
Peaches! Fresh peaches, canned peaches and peach candy on the palate. Lemon bars and almond cookies. Hints of those mild cigars and toasted oak spice. Very old cognac notes, again. It's all very silky, yet it still has a lively bite to it courtesy of Irish pot still power.
It finishes with peach crumble, elderflower and gentle toasted oak spice. More fruity and fragrant than sweet, it is all very extensive and lovely and I want more.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
This is grand. Imagine having an actual bottle of this! 20 pours rather than one. (That must be why people buy an entire bottle of whiskey.) I used to have a saying that any whisky that costs over $XXX had better be a storyteller. I no longer have that saying because now every whisky costs over $XXX. This Green Spot could be quite the storyteller, or at least leave a person babbling on with poorly phrased disjointed tales like this one. What a thing.
Availability - The Whisky Exchange
Pricing - £500 (can I pretend it's ¥500?)
Rating - 92
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